Clock striking mechanism.



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CLOCK STRIKING MECHANISM.

APPHCATION FILED JULY 21, 1913.

Patented June 15, 1915.,

H, J. DOOHTTLE & O. W. JOHNSON.

CLOCK STRIKING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED IUiY 2 I913- latentedJune 15, 1915.

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w M M wzoozzzae UNXTED HARRY 5. DOOLITTLE AND ULIV'FL AEESIQ R'EIIEZENG MEGHANIEM'.

Application flictl July 21,

the object of our invention being to provide a striking mechanism which will eudiloly indicate the hours and half hours lIiSllCll a manner that a person hearing the striking of the clock can always determine the time without looking at the same.

Heretofore it has been common practice to make clocks which strike the half hours or half hours and quarter hours by one stroke of the some bell which strilrcs the hours. lVith clocks so constructed, it is in1 possible, when the clock is striking a quarter or half hour, to at all determine the time unless one has heard and remembered the hour last struck. Even under such circumstances, it is impossible to determine whether it is quarter past that hour, half past that hour or quarter of the next following l'iour. A further ditiiculty met with in clocks of this type is the fact that between the hours of twelve and two the striking of the clock, both the hours and fractions thereof, will he the some so that it is absolutely im possible at such periods to determine'the time. This latter difficulty has been over come by constructing clocks in which the fractional ports of the hour are signaled by the striking of a bell of e difi'erent tone from the hell sounding the hour. This does not however, do away with. the dilliculty of determining what particular half or quarter it is being struck, that is, for instance, whether it is half past four or half pest live. The object of our invention is to avoid this dilliculty and construct a clock by means of which it will be possible to determine the exact time upon hearing-the clocir strike.

To accomplish this we construct e clock having bells of different tone, one for the hour and one for the half hours and a. ringing mechanism so arranged that the half hour hell will he sounded in some manner as the hour hell, that is, if it is half past three, the half hour bell will he sounded Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 15?, 193%..

three times. Under these circumstances, any one familiar with the tone of the bells will readily determine the exact time noon hesrii'igf the clock i rilre.

A further object of our invention is to so arrange the ports and simplify the construc tion that the same principle may be einploycdwitli clocks for sounding quarter hours, as well as the half iours, four bells of different tones being then used.

With these and other objects in view, our invention will he more fully described, illustrcted in. the accompanying drawings, and then specifically pointed out in the claims which are attached. to and form a port of this application.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is on elevetional view of our invention; Fig. :2 is an end elevation partially in section oi the some; Fig. 3 is a. perspective view of the bells and mechanism for shifting the oells alternately into the path of it common ring;- ing'hcm'mer, showing the bells in one position; Fig.- sis a View similar tol ig. 3, but showing the bells in another position; f 5 is a. top plain view of the bells cn'iploycd, the hammer arm being shown in section; Fig. 6 is a perspective View similar to the View shown in Figs. 3 and t, but illustrating the type of construction employed with clocks striking the quarter hours, as well as the half hours; Fig. 7 is an elevation of e modified form of wheel for controlling the striking meclninisi'n.

Corresponding and like parts are ro e to in the following description and ind-.1 in all the views of the drawings by the some reference characters.

The greater part of the. striking rncche- 7 nstruction being; conventional and oi'ieretlng in the usual manner with cl ex option of the main wheel the novel features of which will he later explained.

Vertically {.tllllttl, spaced brackets i l and 15 form bearings for u vertically dispo' rotatable shaft 16 provided adjacent one e d with diametrically disposed arms 17 and i8 carrying bells 1,9 and 20 of f This shaft 16 is provided per end with a radially irected J adapted to seat in one or the other pressions 22 formed in the end portion of a spring arm 23, the seating or the pin in either of the depressions yieldahiy holding the shat against turning movement toward the other depressions,

Keyed upon the upper end of the shaft 15, is a cam member 2% having a pair oi angularly disposed arcuate cam arms 25 and 26.

Fast upon the shaft 10 is a coll-a 2! provided adjacent one end with a radially directed arm 28 and adjacent its other with an oppositely extending arm 29, these arms being disposed to engage the arms 25 and 26, respectively, of the cam member to alternately turn the shalt in one direction or the other to bring the peripheral edge portion of one or the other of the bells l9 and 20 in the path of a hammer 30 carried by the spring arm 31. The collar 2? is so fixed upon the shaft 10 that the arms 28 and 29 engage the cam arms to move the bells a short time before the hour and half hour because of which the bells are alternately exposed to or extended in the path of the hammer. it will therefore be apparent that one of the bells will be sounded. when the hour is struck and the other when the half hour is struck and inasmuch as the bells are of different tone any one hearing the clock can readily determine whether the clock is striking an hour or a half hour.

In order that one may readily determine which half hour is being struck, the main wheel 13 of the striking mechanism is slightly modified in its construction. in common practice wheels of this type are provided with a plurality of deep notches formed in their peripheral edges with a plurality of shallower notches interposed between the deep notches, the deep notches be ing arranged to seat the detent upon the sounding of the last stroke of the bell and so lock the wheel against -further rotation until raised from said notch while the shallow notches determine the i'iuniber of strokes given the bell. F or this reason, the Wheel is ordinarily provided with eleven shallow notches followed by a deep notch to cause the clock to strike twelve, thenfollowed by a second deep notch to cause the some strike one, then by a shallow and deep notch for two, two shallow and one deep notch for three and so on.

In the construction of our main wheel 13 of the striking mechanism the number oi. notches is doubled, there being two successi e series of eleven shallow notches and one deep notch permitting the cloclr to strike twelve twice in succession, then a deep notch for one oclock, a second deep notch onet"iirty', a shallow and deep notch for two, a second shallow and deep notch ior twothirty, two shallow and one deep notch tor three, two shallow and a deep notch for three-thirty and so on. in the drawings, the deco notches are indicated by the numeral 32 and the shallow notches by the numeral 33 and the arrangement thereof will be readily understood from inspection.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that the clock will strike the hours in the usual manner upon one of the bells and that it will strike the half hours upon the other hell. it will further be apparent that the striking of the half hours will con sist in. sounding the second bell as many times as the hour bell was last sounded. For instance, assuming that the bell 19 is the hour bell and the bell 20 the half hour bell, at three oclocli the bell 19 would be sounded three times and at threethirty the bell 20 would be sounded three times. As these bells are oi? diilerent tone however, it will be clear that any one acquainted with the clock may readily determine whether it is the hour that is being; sounded or the half hour and consequently the exact time.

The above described construction may be readily modified for use with striking mechanism arranged to strike the quarter hours, as Well as the half hours. Under such conditions there will be four equally spaced apart radially directed pins 11 instead of two and the collar 27 will be replaced by a collar 34 having four radially directed arms 35 as shown in 6 of the drawings. The shaft 16 will also carry four radially directed arms at its lower end each of which will form a support for a bell of different tone, the hells being indicated by the morals and 3?", 38 and 39. Upon the up per end of the shaft 16 will be mounted a cam member 40 in the form of a star gear having; four equally spaced apart arcuate urnis ll adapted to be engaged by the arms 35 of the shaft 34-.

lit will be seen that with this construction the shaft 16 will be turned in the same direction at all times, being advanced through ninety degrees angle every fifteen minutes in order that one hell, may the hell 36, shall extend in the path of the haini'ner at the hour, the bell. 3'7 at quarter after the hour, the bell 88 at half past the hour and the hell 39 at quarter of the next hour. With this type of construction a main wheel l2 corresponding to the main wheel 18, but with four series of similarly arranged teeth, instead of two, "will be employed, the construction of the wheel being clearly shown in Fig. '3' ol the drawings.

The hall hour and fifteen minute ringing; mechanisms illustrated in the drawings and shove described disclose suiliciently the principle of my invention and it will be readily 5 Copies of this patent may "be obtain apparent that by properly carryin c principle a clock may be made to s desired hour divisions, each divisi sounded upon a different bell, the of divisions sounded dependi, A number of sets of teeth in the o ling Wheel of the striking gear and the imber of bells employed, together with the mechanism for bringing the bells successively into position.

The above striking mechanism is not at all complicated and is effective and positive in its action and may be readily applied clocks new in use It will of course he un derstood that We do not wish in any Way to limit ourselves to the specific details of construction shown as various minor changes, within the scope of the appended claims, may he made at any time without in the slightest degree departing from the spirit of our invention,

Having thus described the inventiomwhat is claimed as new is:

1. A clock striking mechanism including a striking hammer, means for actuating the hammer to strike the hours and fractional parts thereof, a vertically disposed shaft carrying a plurality of bells, and means for partially rotating the shaft to bring the bells successively in the path of the hammer, said means including actuating arms extend ing radially from an hour shaft, and a cam member mounted upon the bell shaft and having arms adapted for engagement by the arms of the hour shaft.

2. A clock striking mechanism including a striking hammer, means for actuating the hammer to strike the hours and fractional parts thereof, a vertically disposed shal't carrying a plurality of bells, and means for partially rotating the shaft to bring the bells successively in the path of the hammer, said means including actuating arms extending radially from an hour shaft, a cam member mounted upon the bell shaft and having arms adapted for engagement by the arms of the hour shaft, and means for holding the shaft with the bells in proper position.

3. A clock striking mechanism including a striking hammer, means for actuating the hammer to strike the hours and fractional parts thereof, a vertically disposed shaft carrying a plurality of bells, and means for partially rotating the shaft to bring hells successively in the path of the hammer, means including actuating arms extend ing radially from an hour shaft, a cam member mounted upon the hell shaft and having arms adapted for engagement by the arms of the hour shaft, means for holding the shaft with the bells in proper position, said means including a pin extending ra dially from the shaft, and a spring arm bearing against the pin and having depressed portions in which the pin seats.

a. In a clock striking mechanism, a shaft, differently toned sounding elements mounted upon the shaft, cam elements carried by the shaft, one for each sounding element, means actuated by the time movement for operating the cam elements to successively bring the sounding elements in predeten mined position, means for retaining the sounding elements in the adjusted position, a hammer, and actuating means for actuating the hammer a liketnumber of times on the hours and at given intervals between the hours.

5. in a clock striking mechanism, a shaft, differently toned sounding elements mounted upon the shalt, cam elements carried by the shaft, one for each sounding element, means mounted upon the hour shaft for operating the cam elements to successively bring the sounding elements in predetermined position, means for holding the soundin elements in the adjusted position, a hammer, hammer actuating means for op erating the hammer like number of times on the hours and at given intervals between the hours, and means mounted upon the hour shaft for tripping the hammer actuating means.

In testimony whereof we ans: our signs tures in presence of two Witnesses.

HARRY J, DUGLITTLE. [11.

OLIVER Vii JOHNSON. [11. en} Witnesses:

J. Cousins,

Juo. H. Manuals,

ed for live cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of. intents "gwashingtomhcflf 

